


of teacups and teleportation circles

by testosterlonely



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Ten Years Later, post-nein
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-11-09 01:32:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17992292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/testosterlonely/pseuds/testosterlonely
Summary: Caduceus breaks his favorite teacup. Caleb goes on an adventure to replace it.Caduceus and Caleb are married and everyone is happy.





	of teacups and teleportation circles

**Author's Note:**

> When your fiance sends you a 3 am idea of a Clayleb fic he wants you to write, you write the fic for him. Special thanks to pinfeatherscrow for helping me stay on track and my fiance for the idea!

Things were finally good for Caleb Widogast. He lived happily in the Blooming Grove with his husband Caduceus Clay. Their romance had been slow, almost painfully slow at times, but when the day finally came that the Mighty Nein were ready to go their separate ways, Caduceus simply took Caleb’s hand and told him, “You’re coming home with me. You are my family.” And he did. 

The Grove was finally healthy and thriving again, and there was never a shortage of dead people tea to drink and strange mushrooms to eat. Their friends visited the two men occasionally, and every few months Nila would come to watch the Grove so Caduceus and Caleb could go visit their friends, who had spread across the continent - Beau had returned to Zadash, where she reunited with Keg, Fjord and Jester had found themselves back on the Menagerie Coast. Nott and Yeza returned to their home near the river, and Yasha took herself wherever the Stormlord led her. She was their most frequent visitor, stopping by for a few days to a few weeks, quiet and serene.

One sunny morning, Caleb sat peacefully at their kitchen table, absentmindedly rubbing Frumpkin’s head as his husband prepared breakfast - heating the tea kettle, chopping mushrooms and potatoes, lightly toasting the homemade bread that Caleb loved the most, the mundane household sounds that he had learned to love - when he heard a sudden crack. 

Caleb looked over with a start to see a look of distress on his husband’s face, his gaze caught on something on the ground. “Liebling, what is wrong?” Caleb asked, before discovering what had caused his husband’s sadness - shattered on the floor was Caduceus’ favorite teacup. 

Caleb remembered the day he gave Caduceus the small, pale pink cup, dotted with the tiniest of flowers. He and Nott had taken a day to themselves in Zadash, a few weeks before the wedding, to figure out what Caleb would wear for the special day. Nott, naturally, was excited to force Caleb to try on as many ridiculous ensembles as she could, and Caleb complied, if only to see the joy on his best friend’s face. 

After a few hours and a few shops, Caleb and Nott were exhausted, and stopped at a tiny shop near The Invulnerable Vagrant to grab a pastry and perhaps a hot drink. The first thing that caught Caleb’s eye, however, was a tiny pale pink cup, dotted with grey flowers. It ended up being the only purchase of the day - in the end, Jester made Caleb’s wedding apparel, and Caleb was so excited about the cup that reminded him of his husband-to-be that he wanted to return home immediately. The shopkeeper had wrapped up the cup and the two parted ways, Caleb using the Teleportation Circle he had convinced Pumat to let them set up in the back of The Invulnerable Vagrant to head home.

He kept the cup in his Bag of Holding until the next morning, when Caleb snuck out of bed early to attempt to make breakfast for Caduceus and bestow upon him his new teacup. Naturally, it went poorly, with smoke pouring out of the small cottage’s kitchen. The burning smell woke Caduceus, who laughed for nearly an hour at his fiancé’s mishap. The cup, of course, was perfect, and the day was saved by the two men cleaning up the kitchen and going back to bed to try again later.

“My love, I’m so sorry about your cup,” Caleb whispered in his husband’s ear, throwing his arms around his waist. 

“It’s okay, sweetheart. It’s just a cup,” Caduceus answered, in a tone that clearly conveyed “It’s not okay, but I don't want to talk about it.” 

The two finished preparing and eating their breakfast in a somber silence, broken occasionally by Caleb’s unsuccessful attempts at humor. Caleb even debated casting Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, desperate for the firbolg’s smile or laugh. 

Caleb wrestled with himself about what to do for a few hours, watching his husband mope around the house. Eventually, he knew the correct solution to his problem. 

“Liebling, I’ll be gone for a few hours, but I’ll be back soon,” Caleb promised Caduceus, kissing him on the cheek and grabbing his cloak. He had a few trips to make before the day was done.

First, to Nott’s. The goblin was unsurprised at Caleb’s appearance, as she had grown accustomed to the human showing up randomly at the house where she lived with her husband and son. Once she heard the reason for her best friend’s trip, she was ready to head to Zadash, “for true love, of course.”

Next, to Zadash. Caleb and Nott both resolved to never tell Beau that they had been in town and not come to visit her, because they both knew she would never stop complaining about it. But Beau was known to talk, and talk, and talk, and if they stayed with her too long, they’d never finish their mission, and Caleb knew he could not come back empty handed.

Of course, transporting directly into the back room of The Invulnerable Vagrant without warning the Pumats first caused a bit of a stir, but once the firbolgs learned of Caleb and Nott’s mission, all stresses were calmed, and the two went on their way, promising to come back soon for a longer visit on a day when they were not in a time crunch.

\---

“I swear the shop was this way,” Nott grumbled after twenty minutes of wandering the few blocks around The Invulnerable Vagrant, searching for the pastry shop from nearly five years ago. “Have you considered, Caleb, that… maybe… the shop is closed?” 

“Nein, Nott, Pumat would have told us. These roads don’t even look familiar any more… but The Invulnerable Vagrant has been here for years, and I’ve been here hundreds of times. I should remember the area better.”

“Let’s just ask someone,” Nott decided, wandering up to the first person she saw. The dark-skinned halfling man she found directed them to a shop a few blocks to the east, Beans and Brew. 

Beans and Brew had excellent animal-product-free scones (Caleb purchased a few for Caduceus) and passable tea, but was definitely not the shop they were looking for. As they exchanged silver for pastries, they asked the young elven woman running the till if she knew of any other tea shops in the area, explaining the mission they were on. She suggested a shop a ten minute walk to the south, only a few blocks away from Beau’s house, called The Warm Oven.

The Warm Oven smelled of savory herbs and sweet sugar, and Caleb immediately missed his husband, wondering if he was feeling any better. When he had left, Caduceus had been staring forlornly at the broken porcelain on the counter, since neither of them had been willing to part with it yet. However, there were no teacups for sale, and the elderly gnome proprietor was huffy when asked if there were any other tea shops close by, so the two left without purchasing anything or even any other leads.

“This is hopeless!” Nott complained as she and Caleb stood outside of The Warm Oven, hands in their cloaks to protect them from the cold. “We’re never going to find this stupid tea shop! We should just go ask Pumat.” 

For once, Caleb had no response. His only goal for the day had been to replace his lover’s teacup, and he couldn’t even do that correctly. “Ja, Nott, we should go talk to Pumat. Maybe he can make a custom one. A bit out of his wheelhouse, but perhaps.” 

\---

“Uh, Caleb, you are a transmutation wizard, am I correct?” Pumat Prime asked Caleb a few minutes later, after Caleb and Nott fully explained the scenario that had brought them to Pumat’s doorstep.

“Ja, I am, why?”

“Give me just a moment,” the firbolg told them, laughing to himself as he wandered into the workroom. Nott and Caleb stared at each other, bemused, as they waited for Pumat to return. A few moments later, he came back, and handed a scroll to Caleb. 

“I’ve been working on this for a while - have you ever heard of the cantrip Mending?” Pumat asked. At Caleb and Nott’s nods, he continued, “This scroll would allow you to use a spell I created myself. I call it Higher Mending. It’s similar to the cantrip, but you can, uh, use it on slightly larger objects. It uses a third level spell slot, and, uh, you would have to copy it, but, I think it would be able to help solve your problem.”

“Pumat Sol, I could kiss you,” Nott blurted out as soon as the firbolg finished his sentence. “You are an angel, a god among men - uh, firbolgs - a saver of love, a king-” she continued, before being cut off by Caleb. 

“Pumat… this is perfect. How much do I owe you?” Caleb asked quietly, heart swelling with excitement. 

Pumat just laughed and answered, “This one is on the house. You know I am a sucker for love stories. Now head home to Caduceus and try it out, I’d love to hear how it works. Pumat Two can run the shop for a bit, I’ll take Nott home. I wanted to ask Yeza about some potions we need restocked anyways.” 

Nodding, and wiping off a single small tear - was it excitement? Sadness? Anticipation? Joy? He couldn’t figure out what it was from - Caleb stepped into the teleportation circle and muttered the arcane words that would bring him home to his husband, his cat, and his graveyard.

\---

Caleb smiled as he walked into his home, glad he had decided against casting Message to warn Caduceus that he was on his way home, as he saw his husband curled up on the sitting room couch fast asleep with Frumpkin loafed on his chest. He paused to kiss his husband on the forehead - quietly, as not to wake him - before settling himself in to the desk a few feet away from the couch with his spellbook, the scroll, and his ink. He spent the next hour copying over the spell while his husband slept peacefully, finishing just as Caduceus began to stir from the couch.

“Hello liebling, I have a special surprise for you,” Caleb said excitedly when he was certain Caduceus was awake enough to fully comprehend what a conversation was. He pulled the scones, slightly crushed, out of his bag and handed them to his husband. “Look, I got pastries.”

“That’s great, love,” Caduceus said, smiling as he smelled the spicy cinnamon of the scones. “We shouldn’t eat them now, though, it would ruin our supper.” 

“Liebling, I think tonight we should have sweets for supper! Sweets and tea!” Caleb exclaimed, pulling Caduceus off the couch and into the kitchen. 

“Caleb, I’m not sure I’m in the mood for tea, after earlier,” Caduceus said, a slight tone of sadness in his voice.

“I have something to do about that too! Pumat gave me this spell. Here, sit down for a second, let me show you.” Pulling his spellbook out of its holster and placing the shattered porcelain onto the table, he focused his energy into the arcane words Pumat’s scroll taught him, and watched with excitement as the teacup slowly began to reform, pulled together by a shimmering purple light. 

“There. All better. Even the most breakable of things can be saved by love, and maybe a little magic, mein liebling,” Caleb whispered into his husband’s ear. Both men knew that the teacup was not the only thing in their home that had been saved by love. 

That night they had tea and sweets, and there was laughter and joy. A life neither man had dreamed of, held together by love. Things were good for Caleb Widogast, and he finally believed he deserved it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! You can find me at testosterlonely on Tumblr if you want to chat Critical Role!


End file.
